Coimbatore :

Renuka Mohanraj, an independent upcoming beautician, is fully booked for all the ‘muhurtham’ dates up to November. Not all of them are by brides, but include friends, relatives and cousins of the new to-be-wedded couples. Here’s the catch — the main service in demand is for draping saris.

“People prefer us independent beauticians for draping saris as against the new parlours that have been popping up all around,” she says. “Most youngsters otherwise prefer the more fancy salons for hair blow-drying, straightening, styling and make-up.”

With a growing population of women in their twenties and thirties not knowing how to wear sari by themselves, this is fast turning into a specialized service, even in the non-bridal beauty service segment. Once considered a basic skill of most Indian women above the age of 21, a neat sari drape is now considered a “work of art”.

“Now women are particular about how thin or endowed the sari makes them look and they do not want to experiment by trying it themselves,” says another independent beautician, Omana Thomas. “Especially, with heavy saris like kanchivaram, benarasi, organzas or even heavily-embroidered Georgettes. They don’t mind spending a few thousands on it,” she says.

As a result, sari draping has become a lucrative service on offer by beauty parlours and beauticians. A sari draped according to the classic Indian style, which is a 20-minute job, costs anywhere between Rs200 to Rs600.

“A decade ago, women close to the couple used to call us mainly for hair and make-up. Only clients studying in colleges or still unmarried used to request help with their saris or request a drape as an additional service,” says Thomas. “However, now this is the main service requested by even married women in their late twenties. Hair and make-up have become side services,” she says.

Sari draping experts and old-timers say this change in trend can be attributed to changing lifestyles and fashion patterns. “Two decades ago, women used to wear saris everyday to college. It slowly changed to salwar suits, kurtas and kurtis,” says designer Aparna Venkatesh. “Besides farewell, graduation day, ethnic day and friends’ weddings, the sari is hardly worn,” she adds.

This has also led to sari draping classes cropping up across not just across the city, but the country too. “While some offer it as a separate one-day course, some offer it as part of personal grooming classes,” said Kavita Ramesh, who used to organize personal grooming workshops for young women twice a year.

Meena Krishnakumar, one of the most popular sari draping teachers in Coimbatore, says she gets at least 15 to 18 students a month. “A majority of students are girls who come to me just after their wedding date is fixed and their mother-in-laws have asked them about their sari tying abilities. There are also the newly appointed college lecturers and students of colleges who insist on wearing sari once a week,” she said.

However, Meena doubts that her classes will ever create a dent in the demand for professional sari drapers. “Sari draping requires regular practice because you need to learn to drape different types of fabrics to your shape and size. Just attending a two-hour session and then trying it for a function three months later will not work,” she says. “Regularly wearing a sari is almost impossible now,” she adds

Once considered a basic skill of most Indian women above the age of 21, a neat sari drape is now considered a “work of art”.

source: http://www.timesofindia.indiatimes.com / The Times of India / News Home> City> Coimbatore / by Pratiksha Ramkumar, TNN / August 30th, 2015